Dr. Fred Edison lives in the Mansion with his wife nurse Edna Edison and their son "Weird" Ed Edison. He is a retired physician. According to the diplomas found in his office, he graduated from Mail-a-Med and has a degree for mummifying and bandaging from Docs 'R Us.
He seems to be somehow connected to the State University: He put an advertisement asking for a student, adept at handling Nuclear Waste and have own Radiation Suit, who wants to work as a Technical Lab Assistant. He offers work Tuesday - Friday, $5.00/hour. His mail box is #567-09A
Maniac Mansion[]
20 years ago the Meteor fell near the mansion and affected him. For years he did not sleep or eat and worked on the Zom-B-Matic. One of his victims would be Sandy Pantz if it weren't for her boyfriend Dave Miller and his friends who rescued her and got rid of the Meteor.
He is first seen in the lab with Sandy, notifying her that soon her brains will be sucked out by his machine. Sandy has faith in Dave and his friends but soon starts screaming for help.
Dr.Fred then has trouble with the Zom-B-Matic, and warns Edna that he will need to shut down the power for 5 or 6 minutes. Edna complains that he works too much and he replies that soon everything will be different and leaves. Some time after that, the power goes off and some thing's can't be completed, for some minutes.
After that he visits Ed because the meteor wants to borrow his hamster and electric cattle prod. Ed complains that nobody touches his hamster (actually he had hid Fred's key card in the cage), and Dr. Fred warns him that the meteor will be pissed; after all it suspects him for stealing his purple card key leading to the meteor's room (this cutscene isn't shown if the player has already found the card).
Lastly he is seen in the lab, chastising the Purple Tentacle for playing with Sandy, his lab experiment, and orders him to bring her, as the machine is ready.
In the end, free from the Meteor's influence, he apologises to Dave and Sandy for all the trouble he caused and asks what to repay for their help; but he calls Dave a "tuna head" for asking for cash.
If Dave is dead, he apologises to Sandy, but then considers building a machine that would bring him back to life!
Day of the Tentacle[]
In the later years Dr. Fred failed to get hold of the ensuing video game and TV series, as he locked the contract in the safe in his office and forgot the combination. This brought his family in a bad situation financially, he became upset and he underwent a period of sleepwalking, a state in which he would remember the combination, but of no avail. He overcame sleepwalking by drinking a LOT of coffee.
Trivia[]
- He is a stereotypical "mad scientist" common in B-movies and such horror films.
- The surname "Edison" is not mentioned in the original game. "Fred Edison" first appears as Martin Short's character in the Maniac Mansion TV series, and is adopted for Day of the Tentacle.